Cartons having contoured molded pulp walls



W. GEISLER CARTONS HAVING CONTOURED MOLDED PULP WALLS Dec. 27, 1966 2SheetsSheet 1 Filed March 13, 1964 IUZI I I "l I INVENTOR I William GetsL61" 6 Z ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofilice 3,294,276 Patented Dec.27, 1966 3,294,270 CARTONS HAVING CONTOURED MOLDED PULP WALLS WilliamGeisler, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Keyes Fibre Company, acorporation of Maine Filed Mar. 13, 1964, Ser. No. 351,657 4 Claims.(Cl. 21721) This invention relates to containers, and more particularlyto shipping cartons having contoured molded pulp walls.

Prior to the present invention, shipping cartons of corrugatedcardboard, fiberboard or other known materials for packaging variousarticles such as bottled beverages and the like were subject to severaldisadvantages. For instance, known cartons consisting of severalintegral top and bottom flaps which serve as plural thickness wallsrequire excessive materiaLand this is particularly so with corrugatedcardboard where it is necessary to overlap the board in two or moredirections to obtain the desired rigidity of the walls as well as toprovide compartmented honeycomb inserts of the same material to restrainlateral shifting of bottles. The cost of this additional material toobtain the desired strength of the carton for stacking and positioningof the contents is substantial when it is considered that cartons orcontainers of this general variety are used only once. Furthermore, inpreviously known cartons or containers where molded pulp inserts havingcontoured article positioning means have been employed, the molded pulpinserts represent an additional amount of material adjacent the foldedflap top and bottom walls of the carton constituting an additionalexpense rendering such arrangements suitable for packaging onlyspecialty items commanding high profit margins. Finally, the usual topand bottom wall construction material has poor wet strength. As aconsequence accidental wetting by warehouse flooding may cause the heavycontents of a filled carton to rupture the bottom wall when lifted, andthus spill the contents.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide acontainer having contoured molded pulp walls which obviates the aboveproblems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a shipping cartonof corrugated cardboard or fiberboard sides and molded pulp top andbottom walls having integrally molded contours to restrain lateralshifting of articles therein.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a shippingcontainer in which empty bottles may be loaded by the bottlemanufacturer for shipment to the bottle filler after which the bottlefiller may repack and permanently seal the shipping container, and whichfurther has a top opening feature for easily removing the contents fromthe carton.

Novel features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to one skilled in the art from .a reading of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein similarreference characters refer to similar parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the container of this invention in theclosed position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container of this invention in theopen position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevational view on line 33 of FIG. 1 showingdetails of the construction of the container;

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevational view on line 44 of FIG. 1 showingfurther details of the construction of the container; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the contoured molded pulp top and bottomwalls removed from the container to show the contours thereof.

Referring to the drawings, a six-sided container 19 of generallyrectangular configuration is illustrated. This comprises four flat,generally rectangular side walls including two side walls 12 and 14 andtwo end walls 16 and 18, as well as a top wall generally designated 20and a'bottom wall generally designated 22. Each of the four side walls,12, 14, 16 and 18 may be formed of corrugated cardboard, fiberboard,Masonite, light wood or any other material having the proper qualitiesfor the purposes to which the container will be put. The oppositevertical edges of each side are joined to form a continuous surroundingside wall which, with the top and bottom wall members absent, may becollapsed to a generally flat plane for shipping and storage purposes.

At least the two end walls have a top and bottom flap portion hingedthereto. In the preferred embodiment the side walls 12 and 14 also haveupper flap members 24 and lower flap members 26, and the end walls 16and 18 have upper flap members 28 and lower flap members 30. Forinstance, if the four side walls are composed of cardboard orfiberboard, the hinge joints with the foldable upper and lower flaps maybe provided in known manner by longitudinal creases. The upper and lowerflaps, when folded inwardly to a position generally normal to theirrespective side walls, extend significantly less than one-half thedistance to the opposite side of the container. As explained in moredetail below, these flaps serve only to provide means for attaching withthe contoured molded pulp top and bottom walls, and consequently aremade as narrow as possible to effect a maximum saving of material. Ifdesired, handle means 32 may be provided in known manner such as bycut-out portions in the end walls 16 and 18.

The top and bottom walls 20, 22 are formed as rectangles shaped to fittelescopically within the continuous surrounding side wall, and areformed of heavy-duty molded pulp material according to knownmanufacturing processes. It will be appreciated that differentcompositions of material may be utilized for different purposes. Forinstance, a mixture of virgin kraft and groundwood pulp together with asubstantial portion by weight of at least one moisture retarding andstrength imparting agent would be appropriate. The percentage ofmoisture retarding ingredients may be varied to obtain essentiallywater-resistant top and bottom members for shipping cartons which willresist rupture under adverse moisture conditions.

The top member 20 contains a plurality of recessed pocket means 34designed to overlie the top of bottles B or other such articles whichmay be packaged within the container. The pocket means 34, of course,may vary in shape and size to conform with the upper portions of theparticular size and shape of articles. In the configuration used forpurposes of illustration, the contours take the form of invertedcup-shaped cavities integrally molded in continuous fashion withoutopenings. It will .be noted that the pocket means 34 which position themeans 34 which position bottles adjacent the side walls and between theend row pocket means include intermediate raised portions 40, the uppersurfaces of which of this invention without lie in yet another commonflat plane parallel with and spaced between the two above-mentionedplanes. As can be understood, this construction enables the end flaps 28to be folded inwardly normal to their walls 16 and 18 into contact withthe upper surfaces 36 of the edge pocket means 34. Also, the upper flaps24 may be folded inwardly normal to their walls 12 and 14 into contactwith the inwardly folded flaps 28 and the upper surfaces 40 of the sidepocket means, and secured by glue spots 41 or the like. The uppersurfaces of the raised portions 38 of the center pocket means 34 thuslie in the plane in which the upper surfaces of the last folded flaps 24lie. As suggested by dash-dot lines in FIG. 3, this permits stacking ofthe shipping containers gaps or spaces in the center portions of thecontainers; that is, the weight distribution is transmitted downwardlythrough each of the articles packed in the container and is notconcentrated on only a few of such articles.

The bottom molded pulp wall 22 includes a plurality of pocket means 42integrally molded therein. Those in the illustrated embodiment areformed by upstanding pyramids or posts 44, the bases of which defineareas conforming to the size and shape of the particular article to 'bepackaged in the container. The pocket means 42 adjacent the end walls ofthe container have single pulp thickness bottoms, the lower surfaces ofwhich occupy a common flat plane. The central pocket means 42 furtherinclude downwardly relieved cup-shape center portions 46, the bottomsurfaces of which occupy a common flat plane parallel with but spacedfrom the plane in which the bottom surfaces of the end pocket means lie.The spacing between the two planes is equal to the thickness of the endfiaps 30 plus the side flaps 26. The pocket means 4 2 which positionsbottles adjacent the side walls and between the end row pocket meansinclude intermediate depressed portions 48, which lie in yet anothercommon flat plane parallel with and spaced between the twoabove-mentioned planes. This enables the end flaps 30 to be foldedinwardly normal to their end walls 16 and 18 into contact with thebottom surfaces of the end pocket means. Also, the side bottom flaps 26may be folded inwardly normal to their walls 12 and 14 into contact withthe inwardly folded flaps 30 and the bottoms of the depressed portions48. This positions the bottom surfaces of the central cup-shapedepressions 46 of the central pocket means 42 in the same plane as thebottom surfaces of the flaps. Again, as suggested by dash-dot lines inFIG. 3, this enables filled containers to be stacked one upon anotherwith an equal distribution of weight transmitted through every articlein the container.

It will be appreciated that the distance between the upper surface ofthe central raised portions 38 and the lower surface of the centraldepressed portions 46 is equal to the distance between the upper surfaceof the flaps 2-4 and the lower surface of the flaps 26. If desired, thepulp tops and bottoms may be designed so that these two equal distancesare offset relative to each other so that the center of each upper andlower pulp wall will nest with the lower and upper flaps, respectively,of adjacently positioned containers in a stack.

It can be appreciated that additional areas of the molded members in theflap area may be elevated to the contact level for more secure bondingthan would be obtained with the cup surfaces alone.

For easy access to the container contents, at least the upper wall 20includes a transverse line of separation such as a score line 50 whichmay be formed by perforations or the like. This line extends laterallyacross the wall panel mid-Way between the ends of the rectangular top 20whereby the top may be separate-d and opened as described below inconnection with FIG. 2.

In use, the above described carton is advisably supplied to the bottlemanufacturer in knocked-down or flattened the lower surfaces ofcondition comprising a stack of flattened side walls, a stack of nestedtop members and a stack of nested bottom members. The side walls mayfirst be opened to the rectangular surrounding shape, and the bottomflap means thereof folded inwardly to receive the bottom molded pulpwall panel 22 which spans the distance between the side walls at theirbottoms. The inwardly folded bottom flaps may then be secured to themolded pulp bottom panel by gluing, staple stitching or other knownfastening means. Thereafter, empty bottles may be loaded into the pocketmeans 42 of the molded pulp bottom panel within the surrounding sidewalls. After positioning the top molded .pulp wall panel 20 over theupper portions of the empty bottles to restrain them against lateralshifting within the container, the upper flaps may be folded inwardly toenclose the edge of the upper wall panel. Advisably, the upper flaps 24-are temporarily secured at this point to the flaps 28 by gluing or lightstapling, and the end flaps 28 may be secured to the tops 36 of the cups34. The bottles may then be shipped safely to the filling and cappingplant.

On receipt of the container by the bottle filler, the lightly securedupper flaps 24 are opened and the top molded pulp wall panel 20 isopened at its score line 50 as shown in FIG. 2. After unloading,filling, capping and reloading the bottles, the upper molded pulp wallpanel is folded down over the bottle tops to again securely restrain thefilled bottles against lateral shifting in the container. At this point,the upper side flaps 24 are folded inwardly and again glued or otherwisesecured to the upper surfaces 40 of the side pocket means as well as theend flaps 28. This provides a shipping container of full bottlesproperly positioned and well secured for shipment to consumerdistribution points.

Upon receipt by the ultimate consumer, access to the contents of thecontainer is easily obtained by breaking the seal between the upper sideflaps 24 and upper end flaps 28 and raised portions 40 to allow the sideflaps 24 to be folded out of the way. Then, each half of the uppermolded pulp wall panel 20, divided along the score line 50, may be swungupwardly about the hinge line which joins the upper end flaps 28 totheirupper walls 16, 1 8. As clearly shown in FIG. 2, this permits the cartonto be closed again with only a portion of the articles removed, and theremaining articles will still be restrained against lateral shifting bypocket means in the upper and lower molded pulp wall panels.

Thus, a shifting carton having molded pulp top and bottom Walls has beendisclosed which utilizes less material than standard containers forbottles or similar tall articles of similar size, and which is ofincreased strength. Furthermore, it will be apparent that the disclosedstructure provides a convenient manner of transporting bottles bothbefore and after the filling and capping operation without the use ofadditional, specially designed containers. Additionally, the molded pulptop and bottom walls, which may occupy the position of two end walls ortwo side walls, depending upon the orientation of the carton duringshipping, may be formed originally with ventilation openings if desired,or without contoured pocket means if unbreakable articles such as cans,cardboard 'boxes, or the like are to be packaged in the containerinstead of fragile articles such as the glass bottles shown for purposesof illustration. With fragile articles, the depressions in the articlepositioning cavities provide a cushioning effect which is of valueduring rough handling of the containers. Finally, it will be clear thatcontainers according to this invention may be constructed with a numberof side wall panels greater than four, and the non-rectangular tops andbottoms closed by appropriately designed polygonal top and bottommembers of heavy-duty molded pulp.

While the above described embodiment constitutes the preferred mode ofpracticing this invention, other embodiments and equivalents may beresorted to within the scope of the actual invention, which is claimedas follows.

What is claimed is:

1. A container for firmly holding a plurality of similar articles inspaced array comprising a plurality of wall panels joined together attheir edges to form a continuous surrounding side wall, fiap meanshinged to the top and bottom of at least some of the side wall panelsadapted to be folded inwardly to a position generally normal to the sidewall, the flap means When folded inwardly ex tending significantly lessthan one-half the distance to the opposite side of the container, a pairof wall panels formed of heavy-duty molded pulp, one essentiallyspanning the distance between the side walls at their tops and the otheressentially spanning the distance between the side Walls at theirbottoms, a significant portion of the area of both the top and thebottom of the container being closed only by the molded pulp wallpanels, article pocket means integrally molded in the pulp wall panelsto restrain lateral shifting of articles within the container, thevertical distance between the upper surface of the pocket means of thetop wall panel and the lower surface of the pocket means of the bottomwall panel being equal to the vertical distance between the uppersurface of the top flap means and the lower surface of the bottom flapmeans, and the pulp wall panels being secured near their edges to atleast some of the flap means.

2. A container as in claim 1 wherein there are four side wall panelsdefining a generally rectangular container and the flap means at theends of the rectangular container are secured to the pulp wall panels.

3. A container as in claim 2 wherein a line of separation essentiallybisects the pulp wall panel spanning the side walls at their tops in adirection generally parallel to the secured flap means.

4. A container for firmly holding a plurality of similar articles inspaced array comprising a plurality of wall panels joined at their edgesto form a continuous surrounding side wall, fiap means hinged to the topand bottom of at least some of the side Wall panels adapted to be foldedinwardly to a position generally normal to the side wall, the flap meanswhen folded inwardly extending significantly less than one-half thedistance to the opposite side of the container, a pair of Wall panelsformed of heavy-duty molded pul one essentially spanning the distancebetween the side walls at their tops and the other essentially spanningthe distance between the side walls at their bottoms, article pocketmeans integrally molded in the pulp wall panels to restrain lateralshifting of articles within the container, the vertical distance betweenthe upper surface of the pocket means of the top wall panel and thelower surface of the pocket means of the bottom wall panel being equalto the vertical distance between the upper surface of the top flap meansand the lower surface of the bottom flap means, the pulp wall panelsbeing secured near their edges to at least some of the flap means, and aline of. separation essentially bisecting the pulp wall panel spanningthe side walls at their tops in a direction generally parallel to thesecured flap means.

References Qited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,216,339 10/1940DeReamer 206- LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner; MARTHA L. RICE,Examiner;

1. A CONTAINER FOR FIRMLY HOLDING A PLURALITY OF SIMILAR ARTICLES INSPACED ARRAY COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WALL PANELS JOINED TOGETHER ATTHEIR EDGES TO FORM A CONTINUOUS SURROUNDING SIDE WALL, FLAP MEANSHINGED TO THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF AT LEAST SOME OF THE SIDE WALL PANELSADAPTED TO BE FOLDED INWARDLY TO A POSITION GENERALLY NORMAL TO THE SIDEWALL, THE FLAP MEANS WHEN FOLDED INWARDLY EXTENDING SIGNIFICANTLY LESSTHAN ONE-HALF THE DISTANCE TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE CONTAINER, A PAIROF WALL PANELS FORMED OF HEAVY-DUTY MOLDED PULP, ONE ESSENTIALLYSPANNING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS AT THEIR TOPS AND THE OTHERESSENTIALLY SPANNING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS AT THEIRBOTTOMS, A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE AREA OF BOTH THE TOP AND THEBOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER BEING CLOSED ONLY BY THE MOLDED PULP WALLPANELS, ARTICLE POCKET MEANS INTEGRALLY MOLEDE IN THE PULP WALL PANELSTO RESTRAIN LATERAL SHIFTING OF ARTICLES WITHIN THE CONTAINER, THEVERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE POCKET MEANS OF THETOP WALL PANEL AND THE LOWER SURFACE OF THE POCKET MEANS OF THE BOTTOMWALL PANEL BEING EQUAL TO THE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN THE UPPERSURFACE OF THE TOP FLAP MEANS AND THE LOWER SURFACE OF THE BOTTOM FLAPMEANS, AND THE PULP WALL PANELS BEING SECURED NEAR THEIR EDGES TO ATLEAST SOME OF THE FLAP MEANS.